Zapata County Chamber of
Commerce will be hosting the
Bass Champs Fishing tournament this weekend.
Organized by Bass Champs,
the event will take place at Zapata County public boat ramp
in Falcon Lake. The event is
set to run Saturday from 7
a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We encourage locals to participate and attend the event
as a spectator. It is very nice
and it’s always good to have a
good crowd at Falcon Lake,”
said Paco Mendoza, Zapata
County Chamber of Commerce
executive director.

See FISHING PAGE 6A

File photo by Cuate Santos | The Zapata Times

Anglers take a moment for the National Anthem in Zapata on Friday morning as they prepare to check in for the
second day of the FLW-Stern Series Fishing Tournament at Falcon Lake in 2009.

NATIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY TELECOMMUNICATIONS WEEK

911 OPERATORS RECOGNIZED
By MALENA CHARUR
THE ZAPATA TIMES

Photo by Victor Strife | The Zapata Times

Damaris R. Chapa, center, is joined by Mayor Raul Salinas and Webb County Sherrif’s Office Chief Federico Garza
as she is presented with the 2014 911 Telecommunicator of the Year award on Thursday morning during the 911
Telecommunicators Appreciation Luncheon at the Embassy Suites.

As part of National Public
Safety Telecommunications
Week, the 911 Regional Administration for South Texas,
which includes Zapata, recently held an appreciation
event to recognize the operators who respond to emergency calls during times of
crisis.
Horacio De Leon Jr., City
of Laredo assistant city manager, said the event provided
an opportunity to recognize
the work by the groups that
make up the southern region.
“I’m going to quote the former governor of California,
Arnold
Schwarzenegger
when he said, ‘The first duty
of government and its highest obligation is public safety.’
“He said it because if there
is no security there is no
quality of life. We must recognize the honest and ethical
work done by first responders.”
The South Texas region is
made up of 911 departments

See 911 PAGE 6A

Two women arrested near Zapata in
May were sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Laredo for their involvement in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana on behalf of a drug trafficking organization based in Rio Grande City
and Roma.
San Juana Flores, 33, and Vanessa
Barrera, 26, were arrested May 21 and
charged with conspiracy and possession
with intent to distribute 100 kilograms
of marijuana.
As part of their plea agreements,
Flores will serve five years in prison
and Barrera will serve two years.
Barrera confessed to U.S. District
Court Judge George P. Kazen before her
sentencing that she wasn’t very involved in the operation, saying she did
it mostly for the money.
Barrera was to be paid $1,500 to act
as a “jumper,” responsible for delivering the vehicle that was to be loaded
with pot, the criminal complaint states.
Flores allegedly took on more responsibilities.
On May 19, U.S. Border Patrol agents
noticed four vehicles driving in tandem
east on Highway 16 from Zapata.
One vehicle was a gray GMC/Chevrolet pickup, the second was a gray jeep
Cherokee and a third was a silver Chevrolet Malibu.
As agents drove up behind the rear
vehicle, the Malibu, the jeep swerved off
the road and its occupants fled into the
brush.
The jeep was loaded with 109.89 kilograms of marijuana, the complaint
states.
Agents pulled over the Malibu and
identified the occupants as Flores and
Barrera.
The two were detained and taken to
the Border Patrol Zapata station for
processing.
In a short interview with Drug Enforcement
Administration
special
agents, Barrera initially began answering questions and then asked to speak
to a lawyer, the complaint states.
In an interview with Flores, she told
them she was responsible for communication between the load vehicle, the
jeep and the scout vehicles, identifying
law enforcement threats and the various routes the drug trafficking organization would use to deliver the marijuana to Houston, according to the complaint.
Flores was to be paid $2,000 for her
services.
She also stated that she and Barrera
were hired by the same drug trafficking
organization and that this was the second time the two worked together on a
marijuana run to Houston.
(Philip Balli may be reached at 7282528 or pballi@lmtonline.com)

US IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT

Removal of illegal immigrants could be limited
Individuals who meet certain criteria could be safe from deportations under a possible policy change
By ERICA WERNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of immigrants who are in
the U.S. illegally but don’t have serious criminal records could be
shielded from deportation under a
policy change being weighed by
senior American officials.
The change, if adopted following a review ordered by President
Barack Obama, could limit removals of people who have little or no
criminal record but have committed repeat immigration violations
such as re-entering the country il-

legally after having been deported,
or failing to comply with a deportation order.
The possible move, confirmed
by two people with knowledge of
the review, would fall short of the
sweeping changes sought by activists. They want Obama to expand
a two-year-old program that
grants work permits to certain
immigrants brought here illegally
as children to include other
groups, such as the parents of any
children born in the U.S.
John Sandweg, who until February served as acting director of
U.S. Immigration and Customs

Enforcement, said he had promoted the policy change for immigrants without serious criminal
records before his departure and
said it was being weighed by
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh
Johnson. An immigration advocate who has discussed the review
with the administration also confirmed the change was under consideration. The advocate spoke on
condition of anonymity because
the proceedings are confidential.
“Any report of specific considerations at this time would be premature,” Clark Stevens, a spokesman for the Homeland Security

Department, said Monday. Stevens
said Johnson “has undergone a
very rigorous and inclusive process to best inform the review,” including seeking input from people
within DHS as well as lawmakers
of both parties and other stakeholders.
The approach outlined by Sandweg and the immigration advocate
would change the existing priority
categories that now include immigrants who have re-entered the
country after having been deported previously, and those who are
fugitives from immigration proceedings. Such people would be

taken off the priority list.
The remaining priority categories focus on recent border-crossers and immigrants who pose a
danger to national security or
public safety or who have been
convicted of crimes. Some of those
categories might also be refined or
changed, and others could be added.
“The time had come to focus
ICE’s efforts exclusively on public
safety and national security,”
Sandweg said in explaining why
he pushed for the change. He esti-

See DEPORTATION PAGE 6A

PAGE 2A

Zin brief
CALENDAR

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014

AROUND THE WORLD

TODAY IN HISTORY

Wednesday, April 23

ASSOCIATED PRESS

STAAR testing at Zapata County
ISD schools.
Volunteer Services Council for
the Border Region Behavioral Health
Center presents 22nd annual Administrative Professional Day Luncheon and
Fashion Show. 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Laredo Country Club. For tickets call
Laura Kim at 794-3130.
Meeting of board of trustees for
Zapata County ISD. 6 p.m. Professional
Development Center, 702 E. 17th Ave.

Today is Wednesday, April
23, the 113th day of 2014. There
are 252 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 23, 1914, Chicago’s
Wrigley Field, then called
Weeghman Park, hosted its
first major league game as the
Chicago Federals defeated the
Kansas City Packers 9-1.
On this date:
In 1014, the Battle of Clontarf took place near Dublin as
forces loyal to Brian Boru,
High King of the Irish, defeated an army led by the King of
Leinster with heavy losses on
both sides, including Brian,
who was killed.
In 1616, English poet and
dramatist William Shakespeare, 52, died on what has
been traditionally regarded as
the anniversary of his birth in
1564.
In
1789,
President-elect
George Washington and his
wife, Martha, moved into the
first executive mansion, the
Franklin House, in New York.
In 1910, former President
Theodore Roosevelt delivered
his famous “Man in the Arena” speech at the Sorbonne in
Paris.
In 1940, about 200 people
died in the Rhythm Night
Club Fire in Natchez, Miss.
In 1943, U.S. Navy Lt. (jg)
John F. Kennedy assumed
command of PT-109, a motor
torpedo boat, in the Solomon
Islands during World War II.
(On Aug. 2, 1943, PT-109 was
rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, killing two
crew members; Kennedy and
10 others survived.)
In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was
sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert
F. Kennedy. (The sentence was
later reduced to life imprisonment.)
In 1988, a federal ban on
smoking during domestic airline flights of two hours or
less went into effect.
In 1993, labor leader Cesar
Chavez died in San Luis, Ariz.,
at age 66.
In 2007, Boris Yeltsin, the
first freely elected Russian
president, died in Moscow at
age 76.
Ten years ago: President
George W. Bush eased Reaganera sanctions against Libya in
return for Moammar Gadhafi’s giving up weapons of mass
destruction.
Five years ago: President
Barack Obama met privately
with leading executives of
credit-card issuing companies;
afterward, the president said
he was determined to get a
credit-card law passed that
eliminated the tricky fine
print, sudden rate increases
and late fees.
One year ago: France legalized same-sex marriage after a wrenching national debate that exposed deep conservatism
in
the
nation’s
heartland and triggered huge
demonstrations.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor
Alan Oppenheimer is 84. Actor David Birney is 75. Actor
Lee Majors is 75. Hockey Hall
of Famer Tony Esposito is 71.
Irish nationalist Bernadette
Devlin McAliskey is 67. Actress Blair Brown is 66. Writer-director Paul Brickman is
65. Actress Joyce DeWitt is 65.
Actor James Russo is 61. Filmmaker-author Michael Moore
is 60. Actress Judy Davis is 59.
Actress Jan Hooks is 57. Actress Valerie Bertinelli is 54.
Actor Craig Sheffer is 54.
Thought for Today: “Curiosity is insubordination in its
purest form.” — Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born author
(1899-1977).

Thursday, April 24
STAAR testing at Zapata County
ISD schools.
Villa San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society meeting. 3 p.m. to 5
p.m. St. John Newmann Catholic
Church. Guest speaker is Dr. Gabriela
Mendoza Garcia with “Jarabe Tapatio:
Race and Nation in 20th Century Mexico and 21st Century United States” as
topic. New members welcome. Call
Sanjuanita Martinez-Hunter at 7223497.
IBC Keynote Speaker Series presentation, “Mexico Under the ‘New’
PRI: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,”
by Dr. Denise Dresser, professor of political science at Instituto Tecnológico
Autónomo de México. 7 p.m. to 8:30
p.m. TAMIU Student Center Ballroom,
SC 203. Free and open to public.
Translation services will be available.
Contact 326-2820 or cswht@tamiu.edu.

Sunday, June 8
Mexico Lindo 2014. 3 p.m. Laredo
Little Theatre. Gabriela Mendoza-Garcia
Ballet Folklorico to perform folkloric
dances of Mexico. Children and adult
company members to perform from
states of Nuevo Leon, Jalisco, Veracruz
and Sinaloa. $10 admission adults and
$5 children 12 and under. Tickets purchased at door or by calling 725-1832.

Photo by Ahn Young-joon | AP

A weeping relative of a passenger aboard the sunken Sewol ferry prays as she awaits news on her missing loved one at a
port in Jindo, South Korea, on Tuesday. As divers continue to search the interior of the sunken ferry, the number of confirmed deaths has risen.

JINDO, South Korea — For a moment
there is silence in the tent where bodies
from the ferry disaster are brought for identification. Then the anguished cries begin.
The families who line up here to view the
decomposing bodies have not known for
nearly a week whether they should grieve or
not. Now that they know, they sound like
they’re being torn apart.
“How do I live without you? How will your
mother live without you?” a woman cried
out Tuesday.
The confirmed death toll from the April 16
disaster off South Korea’s southern coast
reached 113 on Tuesday, officials said, and
about 190 people were still missing. Four
crew members accused of abandoning the
ship and failing to protect the passengers

Ukraine orders new
‘anti-terror’ operation
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s
acting president ordered security
forces to resume “anti-terror” operations in the country’s east
Tuesday after the bodies of two
people allegedly abducted by proRussia insurgents were found
and a military aircraft was reported to be hit by gunfire.
The twin developments —
which came just hours after U.S.
Vice President Joe Biden left
Kiev, the Ukrainian capital —
raised fears that last week’s international agreement on easing
Ukraine’s crisis was failing.
The agreement calls for all
sides to refrain from violence
and for demonstrators to vacate
public buildings. It does not specifically prohibit security operations, but Ukraine suspended
its so-called “anti-terrorist operation” after the accord.
Pro-Russia insurgents who
have seized police stations and
other public buildings in eastern
Ukraine are defying the call to

were arrested, three days after warrants
were issued for the captain and two other
crew.
The victims are overwhelmingly students
of a single high school in Ansan, near Seoul.
More than three-quarters of the 323 students
are dead or missing, while nearly two-thirds
of the other 153 people on board the ferry Sewol survived.
The number of corpses recovered has risen sharply since the weekend, when divers
battling currents and low visibility were finally able to enter the submerged vessel.
Emergency task force spokesman Koh Myung-seok said bodies have mostly been found
on the third and fourth floors of the ferry,
where many passengers seemed to have
gathered. Many students were housed in cabins on the fourth floor, near the stern of the
ship, Koh said.

vacate, saying they were not party to the agreement by Ukraine,
Russia, the United States and the
European Union.
In a statement, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said
the two bodies found Tuesday in
Slovyansk bore signs of torture.
One of them was a member of
the city council and a member of
Turchynov’s party, he said.
Terrorists “are beginning to
torture and kill Ukrainian patriots. They are impudently rejecting the calls of not only our
country but of all the world’s society when they demonstratively
mock the decisions taken in Geneva,” he said.
“These crimes are being done
with the full support and connivance of Russia,” Turchynov added.

46 criminals posing as
vigilantes arrested
MORELIA, Mexico — Mexican authorities said Tuesday
they have arrested 46 people who
worked for criminal gangs but
posed as members of vigilante

“self-defense” groups.
The
vigilante
movement
sprang up last year in the western state of Michoacan to fight
the Knights Templar drug cartel.
The heavily armed vigilantes
wear white T-shirts with slogans
demanding freedom for their
home towns, or the slogan “Self
Defense Group.”
The federal envoy to Michoacan, Alfredo Castillo, said the arrested gang members were wearing similar, but fake, T-shirts.
They were arrested Monday in
the town of Huetamo, near the
neighboring state of Guerrero,
after they opened fire on federal
forces.
The suspects were found with
23 guns, three grenades and a
grenade launcher. Castillo did
not specify which gang the suspects belonged to, but there have
been reports that drug gangs
from Guerrero are seeking to expand their territory in Michoacan. Authorities arrested five
other people last week who are
suspected of having passed themselves off as vigilantes in another Michoacan town.
— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION
Fire sends up plume of
smoke near airport
PHOENIX — A fire at an oil
recycling business near Sky Harbor International Airport critically burned two men and sent a
tall plume of black smoke over
central Phoenix on Tuesday.
Fire Department officials said
the fire occurred as used automotive oil was being transferred
from a rail tanker to a truck.
One of the men being treated
had burns over 50 to 60 percent
of his body, and the other had
burns on 15 percent, officials
said.
About 20 fire engines and ladder trucks were sent to the blaze.

Stowaway teen is resting
at Honolulu hospital
HONOLULU — A teenager
who stowed away in the wheel
well of an airplane for a fivehour flight from California to
Hawaii is resting at a Honolulu

Juan Cedeño, 32, of Miami, holds a handful of plastic fishing line he recovered in
rocks along the beach, while volunteering to pick up trash on Earth Day, on Tuesday, in Miami Beach, Fla.
hospital.
Hawaii’s Department of Human Services said in a statement
Tuesday that child welfare services officials are continuing to
work to ensure his safe return
home.
The department didn’t indi-

cate when the 15-year-old would
be going back to California.
American Medical Response
air and ground ambulances flew
him from Maui to Oahu and
drove him to a Honolulu hospital
Sunday evening.
— Compiled from AP reports

SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY
(956) 728-2555
The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000
households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo
Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning
Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted.
The Zapata Times is free.
The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning
Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129,
Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500.
The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail
thezapatatimes.net

Local

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Cancer survivor recalls journey
Gloria Rodriguez credits faith, doctor in helping her during battle with cancer
By YASMIN SHARIFF
THE ZAPATA TIMES

Gloria Rodriguez has been involved
with Relay for Life ever since she beat
colon cancer in 2004.
She started in Zapata then moved
to Laredo, consequently, working with
the Webb County Relay for Life.
A decade later she still has a clean
bill of health and still is involved with
Relay for Life.
“You never think you will be the
one diagnosed with cancer. But I lost
my father to cancer recently,” she
said.
“All my siblings’ but two had polyps that can turn into cancer.”
According to the Mayo Clinic website, colon cancer is a cancer of the
large intestine and most cases begin
as small, non-cancerous benign
clumps of cells called adenomatous
polyps.
“You may have regular pap tests or
breast exams but there are other
parts that need to be looked at as
well,” Rodriguez said. “Also, people
will say that they have acid reflux and
just get some over-the-counter medi-

RODRIGUEZ
cine.
“But in retrospect, maybe when I
was having these symptoms I could
have been developing colon cancer.”
According to cancer.org, although
younger adults can develop colorectal
cancer, chances increase markedly after the age of 50. Also, most colorectal
cancers happen in people with a family history of it, according to the website.

Rodriguez was 50 when she was diagnosed with stage-three colon cancer.
Stage four is the last and worst
stage, so she was given an aggressive
treatment for it.
“What made me go was that I was
having unusual pain below my abdomen and the doctor immediately sent
me for a colonoscopy,” she said.
The Mayo Clinic suggests that
since polyps can be small, producing
few, if any, symptoms, doctors consequently recommend regular screening tests to help prevent colon cancer
by identifying polyps before they become cancerous.
Rodriguez sights her faith in God
to be what mainly got her through
her battle with cancer.
“God will never give us more than
what we can handle,” she said. “I believe that and that is how I handled
my cancer.”
She also cites her doctor as a large
contributing factor to her recovery
from colon cancer.
“My doctor was Dr. (Eduardo) Miranda,” she said. “He was a wonderful doctor and I recommend him to
anybody. I still see him.”

Trailride, hayride set for May 3
Third annual event in memory of ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata
By MALENA CHARUR
THE ZAPATA TIMES

The third annual Never Back
Down Trailride and Hayride is scheduled for May 3 to honor the memory
of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime Zapata
and to raise scholarship funds.
It’s part of the Viva Laredo Festival
2014 that will include a charreada,
mutton busting, tamales tasting cookoff, salsa cook-off, grito contest and
Li’l Miss Viva Laredo Contest for
girls 10 and under.
Organizer Rosy Gregory said the
event sends a positive message in appreciation to all those who serve the
country and to honor Zapata’s memory.
“It’s a positive message to honor
Jaime Zapata’s life, and a reminder to
appreciate the officers who work and
risk their lives for our country,” Gre-

ZAPATA
gory said.
Zapata lost his life in an ambush
in Mexico on Feb. 15, 2011.
Gregory said the funds raised from
the trail ride and rodeo will be used

to award scholarships to local high
school students.
“The scholarships will provide
support and education to those students who wish to become teachers,
nurses or law officers,” she said.
The trail ride will begin at La Sita
Rose VIP Trailriders’ rest area on
Highway 59 and end at the Laredo International Fair and Exhibition,
where the rodeo will take place with
food, prizes and a live band.
“The trail ride and rodeo has been
growing every year.
“The first year had about 225 riders, and this year we expect many
more,” Gregory said.
Entry fee is $20 per rider.
For more information contact Gregory at 744-7505.
(Contact Malena Charur at 7282583, or at mcharur@lmtonline.com.
Translated by Mark Webber of the
Times staff.)

Photo by Danny Zaragoza | The Zapata Times

A view of LCC South shows children and parents flying kites during the LCC South Kite Flying Fest held Thursday. A 10th anniversary celebration of the South campus is set for Saturday.

Turning 10
LCC invites community to celebration
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

For the last 10 years,
Laredo Community College said its South Campus has worked to meet
the educational needs of
South Laredo and Zapata
residents, and now the
LCC South family would
like to extend a little of
that love to the community during its 10th Anniversary Celebration on
Saturday.
LCC’s Fort McIntosh
and
South
campuses
serve a three-county area
composed of Webb, Jim
Hogg and Zapata counties.
Saturday’s celebration
kicks off at 10 a.m. with
an opening ceremony led
by Fred Solis, associate
vice president for instruction.
The event also will feature an invocation by Sister Rosemary Welsh and
Sister Maria Luisa Vera
of Mercy Ministries, and
the performance of the
National Anthem by the
new Campus Orchestra

under the direction of music instructor Andrew
Uhe.
LCC President Juan L.
Maldonado
and
LCC
Board of Trustees President Cynthia Mares will
share some words of reflection with guests attending the formal ceremony. U.S. Congressman
Henry Cuellar, an alumnus of LCC, will be the
keynote speaker.
At the end of the ceremony, LCC staff and students will officially unveil
a Palomino statue donated by longtime LCC supporters Steve and Linda
LaMantia.
The festivities do not
stop there, however. After
the ceremony, students,
families and the public
are invited to share in an
afternoon of fun, food and
games.
For more information
about the LCC South 10th
anniversary
ceremony
and celebration, contact
the LCC South Dean’s Office at 956-794-4002.

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM

EDITORIAL

OTHER VIEWS

Pope Francis
is winning
hearts, minds
CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Fifteen months ago, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had chosen his room
in a home for elderly Argentine priests. Like other
Roman Catholic bishops
who turn 75, he had submitted his retirement letter to the Vatican. Then
another abdication upended his plans: Benedict XVI,
his stamina fading, was
the first pope in 598 years
to leave by resignation, not
death. On March 13, 2013,
Bergoglio’s peers elected
him pope on their fifth ballot.
He took the papal name
Francis to evoke Francis
of Assisi, a 13th-century
saint whose time with Roman beggars at St. Peter’s
Basilica had converted the
silk merchant’s son to a
life of poverty. The new
pope, an accountant’s son,
opened with a subdued,
servile request to the
throng in St. Peter’s
Square, and to the world’s
1.2 billion Catholics: “Before the bishop blesses his
people, I ask you to pray to
the Lord that he will bless
me.”
The world noted his humility, that rarest of leadership traits. In the succeeding year, his warmth, informality
and
spoken
tolerance have made him a
living oxymoron: a religious celebrity, even to
many nonbelievers and
other non-Catholics. As of
his second Easter as pope,
Francis has achieved a
breakthrough that each of
us can evaluate but none
of us can deny: Some of
those who have disliked
the
Roman
Catholic
Church now find themselves liking this first man
from the Americas to lead
it.
The sheer global heft of
his church — if it were a
nation, only China and India would be more populous — makes it, and its
leaders, objects of spiritual
but also secular inquiry:
In the United States and
many other lands, Catholics and their institutions
are the biggest private providers of education, health
care and charity. What’s
more, if only for lack of
competition, a pope is the
closest thing Earth has to
a globally recognized voice
on social issues — a headturning distinction guaranteed to make his official
pronouncements tumultuously controversial. Francis has the power to provoke planetary conversation, as with his oft-quoted
statement last summer
that “... if a homosexual
person is of good will and
is in search of God, I am
no one to judge.”
More than his immediate predecessors, Francis
has used that limelight to
lobby for service to the
millions of impoverished
people marginalized from
thriving economies. The
former cardinal who routinely trod miserable and
dangerous alleys of Buenos Aires, communing
with the least of his flock,
today demands more than
generous donations and
noble
sentiments.
He
wants gritty, hands-on action. Whether you’re of the
Catholic or any other persuasion, or of none at all,
Pope Francis hopes to
change how you spend
your weekends. “I prefer a
Church which is bruised,
hurting and dirty because
it has been out on the
streets,” he wrote in a November mission statement,
“rather than a Church
which is unhealthy from
being confined and from
clinging to its own security.”

The companion to this
emphasis on helping the
poor is his evidently heartfelt outreach to those hurt
or angered by agents of his
church. He has apologized
and welcomed those estranged from Catholicism
without changing church
policies that critics condemn as rigid and restrictive. His compromise, essentially, is to stick to
church teachings on controversial issues but to
stress, by word and deed,
Gospel messages of kindness and compassion. Earlier this month, the paradox showed vividly:
Francis made headlines
with unscripted and unequivocal words, taking personal responsibility and
asking forgiveness for the
“evil” committed by clerics
who molested children. He
acknowledged the “personal, moral damage carried
out by men of the church”
and pledged stronger (if
unspecified) punishments.
Two days later, he used
equally unequivocal words
to reaffirm that he is not
rewriting Catholic doctrine: “It is horrific even to
think that there are children, victims of abortion,
who will never see the
light of day.” And while his
love for gays as children of
God is a recurring theme,
so is inflexibility on samesex marriage (“anthropological regression”).
These complexities —
the welcoming pastor, the
rigorous shepherd — still
are settling in ways that
liberal and conservative
Catholics struggle to parse;
it can be tricky to square
Francis’ humane sensitivities with his enduring imperatives. In naming him
its Person of the Year,
Time magazine synthesized the conundrums in a
passage worth airing at
length:
The papacy is mysterious and magical: It turns
a septuagenarian into a
superstar while revealing
almost nothing about the
man himself. And it raises
hopes in every corner of
the world — hopes that
can never be fulfilled, for
they are irreconcilable.
The elderly traditionalist
who pines for the old Latin
Mass and the devout
young woman who wishes
she could be a priest both
have hopes. The ambitious
monsignor in the Vatican
Curia and the evangelizing
deacon in a remote Filipino village both have hopes.
No pope can make them
all happy at once.
This pope signals no intent to aggravate, or to appease. Francis, after all,
says he joined the Jesuits
— aka “God’s Marines” —
because that order was on
“the front lines of the
Church, grounded in obedience and discipline.” If
you follow not only news
coverage of him but also
his words, you sense a
man aware that while he
is pope, he is but the 266th
pope — the fleeting guardian, we’ve written, of multimillennial values in a culture prone to preach that
what’s new is therefore
good.
Pope Francis relentlessly prods all of us to think
beyond our privileged
First World concerns. On
this feast of Christendom,
it will be an Easter surprise if he doesn’t remind
us anew of our obligation
to our fellow humans who
suffer in Third World poverty. Whether each of us
checks the box for Catholic, for another faith or for
none, Francis appeals to
our better angels. And he
does so in ways that many
people find, well, appealing.

COLUMN

When a veto becomes a crime

“

KEN HERMAN

AUSTIN — Take one
longtime governor/potential
presidential candidate. Add
equal quantities, to taste, of
words including grand jury
and special prosecutor and
bribery and official oppression and abuse of official capacity.
Stir until newsworthy.
What you have is a recipe
for high-stakes speculation.
And, thanks to a Travis
County grand jury impaneled last week, we’re about
to find out if we also have a
recipe for criminal charges
against Gov. Rick Perry.
At the heart of it all is a
June 2013 Perry promise,
one he made good on, to veto state funding for the Public Integrity Unit of the Travis County district attorney’s office if local DA
Rosemary Lehmberg did
not resign in the wake of
her April DWI guilty plea.
She didn’t quit and Perry
did veto, marking the starting point for the current
criminal investigation of
our governor.
At issue is whether the
legal use of a gubernatorial
veto becomes a crime if a
governor announces in advance an intent to use it if a
certain thing (Lehmberg’s
resignation in this case)
doesn’t happen. Isn’t a governor supposed to use the
veto as a way to threaten
folks, including other elected officials, into doing something? Don’t governors do
that all the time with legislators?
So how does using a legal
veto become a crime? As
they say in rural Texas, we
may be fixing to find out.
”The veto was made in
accordance with the veto
power afforded to every gov-

ernor under the Texas Constitution,” Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said last
week. ”As we have from the
beginning, we remain ready
and willing to assist with
this inquiry.”
The beginning was in
June 2013 when Texans for
Public Justice, which does a
good job of tracking money
and corporate influence in
Texas politics, filed a criminal complaint alleging bad
stuff, seriously bad stuff
about the governor. State
law, director Craig McDonald says, bars public officials from using official actions to coerce other public
officials into doing something.
You and I know that this
kind of thing goes on all the
time, including when a governor privately threatens a
veto in order to coerce lawmakers to vote a certain
way.
In the complaint, McDonald told local prosecutors
(including Lehmberg, who
properly had it farmed out
to a special prosecutor) that
he had “good reason to believe ... that (Perry) committed one or more offenses ...
against the peace and dignity of the state.”
Though it might seem
otherwise, it’s been some
time since we’ve had an indicted Texas governor. In
July 1917, Gov. James E.
“Pa” Ferguson was indicted
in Travis County on charges
of misapplication of public
funds, embezzlement and diverting a special fund. All
were related to what the
Texas State Historical Association’s Handbook of Texas
calls “a serious quarrel with
the University of Texas.”
Sound familiar? Impeachment proceedings based on
those charges led to conviction in the Texas Senate,
though Ferguson resigned a
day prior to the announcement of the decision.
I asked McDonald to ex-

plain how it’s possible that
the legal use of a veto could
be a criminal offense. He
walked me through the four
laws cited in his complaint
(which does not limit what
laws the grand jury can
look at).
We started with the law
concerning “coercion of a
public servant,” the section
of which says somebody
breaks that law if “by
means of coercion he ... influences or attempts to influence a public servant in a
specific exercise of his official power or a specific performance of his official duty.”
McDonald’s take: Perry
used the veto threat to attempt to influence public
servant Lehmberg to quit,
which could be construed as
a “specific exercise of (her)
official power.” This one’s a
misdemeanor but becomes a
felony if the “coercion is a
threat to commit a felony.”
Next is the state law
frowning on “abuse of official capacity,” the portion of
which says ”a public servant commits an offense if,
with intent to obtain a benefit or with intent to harm or
defraud another, he intentionally or knowingly (1) violates a law relating to the
public servant’s office or
employment, or (2) misuses
governmental property, services, personnel, or any other thing of value belonging
to the government that has
come into the public servant’s custody or possession
by virtue of the public servant’s office or employment.”
McDonald’s take: Public
servant Perry misused his
office to obtain a benefit by
trying to induce Lehmberg
to quit. This one can be a felony or a misdemeanor, depending on “the value of the
use of the thing misused.”
The Public Integrity Unit
long has been targeted by
the Texas GOP. Though not

in its current platform OK’d
in 2012, the previous one
urged lawmakers “to secure
the impartiality and probity
of the Travis County Public
Integrity Unit, by transferring its powers and funding
to an impartial statewide
elected judicial entity.”
The next law McDonald
accuses Perry of violating
deals with the oneroussounding “official oppression.” The potentially relevant section of this one says
“a public servant acting under color of his office or employment commits an offense if he ... intentionally
denies or impedes another
in the exercise or enjoyment
of any right, privilege, power or immunity, knowing
his conduct is unlawful.”
McDonald’s take: This
one is related to and kind of
“piling on” the previous
two, having to do with Perry illegally using his gubernatorial powers to try to
force from office somebody
he has no authority to force
from office. This one’s a
misdemeanor.
The next and final law
raised by McDonald is the
felony of “bribery.” The law
says “a person commits an
offense if he intentionally or
knowingly offers, confers, or
agrees to confer on another,
or solicits, accepts, or
agrees to accept from another ... any benefit as consideration for the recipient’s
decision, opinion, recommendation, vote, or other
exercise of discretion as a
public servant, party official, or voter.”
McDonald’s take on this
one is a bit tricky, but I can
get from here to there. Perry, he says, used state money (or the withholding of
same) to try to bribe Lehmberg into a decision to resign.
Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin AmericanStatesman. E-mail: kherman(at)statesman.com.

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State

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014

Findings on West blast
Federal officials: Fertilizer plant explosion could
have been prevented; new laws, oversight needed
By NOMAAN MERCHANT
ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS — The fertilizer plant explosion that
killed 15 people last year
in a tiny Texas town could
have been prevented, even
if it’s still not clear what
started an initial fire that
triggered the blast, federal
officials said Tuesday.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board announced its
findings after a year of investigating the blast in
West, Texas, that also injured 200 and decimated
parts of the town.
The safety board said
the owners of West Fertilizer Co. failed to safely
store hazardous chemicals
or prepare for a potential
disaster. The board also
said several levels of federal, state and local government missed opportunities to prevent the tragedy.
“It should never have
occurred,” said Rafael
Moure-Eraso, the chairman of the safety board,
which does not have any
regulatory authority.
Despite investigations
that have yielded information about safety deficiencies at the plant and voluntary safety steps taken
by the nation’s fertilizer
industry, not a single state
or federal law requiring
change has been passed
since April 17, 2013.
As many as 34 tons of
ammonium nitrate detonated inside West Fertilizer Co. It’s a chemical commonly used in fertilizer
and as an industrial explosive, but it is dangerous
under certain conditions
or in the wrong hands.
The plant in West had
40 to 60 tons of ammonium
nitrate stored in wooden
containers inside a wooden building with no sprinkler system, investigators
said Tuesday. There was
more ammonium nitrate
in a rail car outside the
building.

File photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP

The aftermath of an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West is shown,
on Thursday, April 18, 2013.
A separate, ongoing investigation by federal and
state officials has narrowed the possible causes
of the fire to three things:
a golf cart battery, an electrical system or a criminal act. No one has been
charged in connection
with the blast.
Daniel Horowitz, the
chemical safety board’s
managing director, told
The Associated Press on
Monday that even if some
questions remain unanswered, “we know more
than enough to keep this
from happening again.”
Moure-Eraso said federal, state and local agencies
could all do more. He said
he believes the U.S. Environmental
Protection
Agency has enough authority already to require
companies to follow stricter safety guidelines.
In Texas, companies
can still store hazardous
chemicals in flammable
wooden
containers
in
buildings without sprinklers, and volunteer firefighters like the dozen
who rushed into the West
plant still aren’t required
to train how to fight such
fires.
Moure-Eraso suggested
that Texas could pass a

state fire code or change
state law to allow small
counties to enact their
own, and said officials in
McLennan County, where
West is located, could have
done more to prepare an
emergency response plan
for the plant.
But he laid the ultimate
responsibility for preventing the disaster on West
Fertilizer Co.
“What the regulators do
is basically monitor what
is happening, but the primary responsibility has to
be for whoever is putting
this chemical in commerce,” Moure-Eraso said.
“The regulators themselves are not the ones
that caused this thing.”
A spokesman for the
owners of the plant did
not immediately respond
to a message. The plant’s
owners have denied the allegations of dozens of residents and companies suing them in civil court,
saying the plant was negligent in how it handled
and stored ammonium nitrate.
The safety board will
hold a meeting Tuesday
night in West to discuss
its findings and recommendations with residents
and town officials.

OSO, Wash. — Swooping over
a terrain of great sadness and
death, President Barack Obama
took an aerial tour Tuesday of
the place where more than three
dozen people perished in a mudslide last month, then mourned
privately with those who lost
loved ones in the destruction.
Evidence of the mudslide’s
power was everywhere: trees
ripped from the ground, a highway paved with mud and debris,
a river’s course altered. And in
the midst of the awful tableau, an
American flag flying at half-staff.
Even as the president flew
overhead, the search for bodies
continued below. Two people are
still listed as missing.
Back on the ground, the president gathered at a community
chapel in the small town of Oso,
about an hour northeast of Seattle, with families of the victims.
The March 22 mudslide killed at
least 41 people and buried dozens
of homes.
Obama was meeting separately
with emergency responders and
planned a public appearance at
the local firehouse to talk about
what he had witnessed and experienced on a clear, sunny afternoon. On his drive to the fire-

Photo by Elaine Thompson |AP

Brande Taylor, left, and her partner Matt Ingison wave flags and take photos as President Barack Obama’s motorcade drives
past Tuesday, in Oso, Wash. Obama was visiting the area to survey damage from a recent mudslide.
house, a sign outside one business read “Oso strong.”
Brande Taylor, whose boyfriend volunteered to work on the
mudslide debris field, was appreciative that the president made
the effort to visit this rural outpost.
“It is a small community. It’s
little. It’s not huge on the map.

But there’s still people here who
need help, that need the support,”
said Taylor, who stood near the
firehouse. “And they need to
know the president is here to
support and to help them rebuild
their lives.”
Kellie Perkins, who lives in
Oso, said Obama’s visit would
help families who have lost so

much begin to heal.
“They don’t now have houses
any more, they don’t have anything they own, their friends or
relatives are dead,” she said. “I
think they need this.”
At the request of Washington
Gov. Jay Inslee, Obama earlier
this month declared that a major
disaster had occurred in the

FISHING Continued from Page 1A
Contestants should register in
teams with no more than two anglers, must have a valid fishing license, be 18 years of age and not be
considered a professional angler.
Registration will be held the evening prior to the event from 6 p.m.
to 8 p.m. or onsite registration beginning at 5 a.m.
Cash prizes will be awarded and
first place will win a Ford-150.
Winners will be selected by the
highest weight combination of three
fish.
On Feb. 15, 170 teams participated
in the event with a total of 175 fish
caught.
For information on the event or
registration information, visit basschamps.com.
According to the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department, the angling
opportunities for Largemouth Bass
and Catfish are excellent angling
opportunities, for Crappie and

White Bass are poor.
“Largemouth bass anglers are
more successful during the spring,
fall and winter months,” the department’s website states. “Popular
baits include spinner baits, crank
baits and Texas and Carolina rigged
worms. These are used around
flooded brush points, and offshore
structure which includes humps,
rock piles, inundated buildings and
road beds.
“Summer fishing at Falcon can
be tough, partially because of the
South Texas heat. The same lures
along with top-water and buzz baits
(fished early and late) are successful. Catfish can be caught almost
any time during the year. Stink
baits or natural baits such as shad,
shrimp or sunfish are effective for
catching catfish throughout the
lake.”
(Judith Rayo may be reached at
728-2567 or jrayo@mtonline.com)

911 Continued from Page 1A
in Webb, Jim Hogg, Zapata
and Starr counties as well as
the cities of Hebbronville, Rio
Grande City, Roma and Laredo, the latter of which administers the region.
Twelve
people
from
throughout the region were
nominated to receive the 911
Telecommunicator
Award
2014 for outstanding performance in handling emergency
calls.
Damaris Chapa, who works
in the Webb County Sheriff ’s
Office, was chosen to receive
the award.
“I did not expect it. It’s just
part of my obligation and duty. The safety of people is first
and foremost, and my duty is
to help them,” Chapa said.
Chapa recalled receiving a
call from a home where a distraught mother said her 2-

month-old son was drowning.
She said she was able to provide information that helped
the woman keep her child
alive until an ambulance arrived.
Special recognition was
awarded to a group of four
dispatchers who assisted 22
people, including two children, held against their will
in an operation that lasted
about six hours.
The four were Joann Rodríguez, Eduardo Herrera, Luis
Ramírez and Francisco Moreno.
In addition, one special
award, that of 911 Heroine of
the Day, was given to 9-yearold Delecia Mueller, fourth
grader at Oilton Elementary
School.
Mueller called 911 when
her father suffered a stroke.

DEPORTATION Continued from Page 1A
mated that some 20,000 deported immigrants fell into
the categories in question
last year.
The potential changes
come as Johnson proceeds
with a review ordered by
Obama on how to make deportation policy more humane. With comprehensive
immigration
legislation
stalled in the Republican-led
House after passing the Senate last year, Obama has
come under intense election-year pressure to stem
deportations, which have
neared 2 million on his
watch, and allow more of
the 11.5 million immigrants
living in the country illegally to stay.
Many
activists
want
sweeping action by Obama
to give legal certainty and
work permits to millions
more immigrants, like he
did for those who arrived illegally as children and attended school or served in
the military.
It’s not clear whether the

The change could limit removals of people
who have little or no criminal record but have
committed repeat immigration violations such
as re-entering the country illegally after
having been deported, or failing to comply
with a deportation order.
administration ultimately
will take such steps. Obama
has said repeatedly his options are limited without action by Congress.
“The only way to truly fix
it is through congressional
action. We have already
tried to take as many administrative steps as we
could,” Obama said last
week at a news conference.
“We’re going to review it
one more time to see if
there’s more that we can
do.”
For now, administration

state, making it and affected residents eligible for various forms
of financial aid, including help
covering the costs of temporary
housing, home repairs and the
loss of uninsured property. The
Homeland Security Department,
the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army
Corps of Engineers also are helping.
The president repeatedly has
stepped into the role of national
consoler in times of mourning.
Just two weeks ago, he met with
families and comrades of those
killed in a shooting rampage at
Fort Hood in Texas. Three soldiers died and 16 others were
wounded in the rampage by another soldier, who killed himself.
Obama also has mourned with
the grieving after carnage in
Tucson, Ariz., Aurora, Colo.,
Newtown, Conn., Boston, the
Washington Navy Yard — and
once before at Fort Hood.
Tuesday’s stop in Washington
came as Obama headed for Tokyo, the first stop on a four-country visit to the Asia-Pacific region. The president is scheduled
to spend the rest of this week and
part of next week conferring with
the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines.

officials appear focused on
more limited, near-term
steps that could still make a
difference for the immigrant population, according
to lawmakers and activists
who’ve met with administration officials.
Adjusting the department’s priorities for deportation is one such approach.
Depending on how it’s done,
it could have a significant
impact by providing new
guidance to ICE agents on
the front lines. Activists
want more wholesale chang-

es; some say ICE agents
don’t always follow the priorities set by the administration.
At the same time, Obama
would likely face wrath
from the Republican Party
for taking even the smallest
steps toward providing relief to people in this country
illegally. Republicans already accuse Obama’s administration of subverting
the law through previous
moves to give “prosecutorial
discretion” to immigration
agents.

“I called because my dad
was having a stroke. I told
him, ‘Don’t go to sleep,’” she
said.
Mueller, who was accompanied by her parents and
brother at the ceremony, said
she was pleased by the recognition.
Consuelo “Connie” Chavarria, 911 program specialist,
said the event was important
because not only does the
staff respond to emergency
calls but also work at educating the public and managing
the system’s database.
“It’s about everybody working together when a crisis
hits,” she said.
(Contact Malena Charur at
728-2583
or
at
mcharur@lmtonline.com. Translated by Mark Webber of the
Times staff.)

The San Antonio Spurs, the
model for stability and sustained
success in the modern NBA,
were still a shaken team when
they showed up for training
camp in October, less than four
months after a devastating loss
to Miami in the NBA Finals.
Some coaches would try to
brush off the disappointment of
letting a title slip through their
fingers and refuse to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
Gregg Popovich took it head
on, embraced the heartache, and
in a career full of masterful
coaching performances, delivered perhaps his finest effort in
season No. 18.
“The way we lost in the finals
wasn’t an ordinary loss, it was
pretty devastating,” Popovich
said on Tuesday after being
named NBA coach of the year.
“We decided that we needed to
just face that right off the bat at
the beginning of the season and
get it out of the way. Don’t blame
it on the basketball gods or bad
fortune or anything like that,
the Miami Heat beat us and won
the championship and that’s
that.”
Popovich joined Don Nelson
and Pat Riley as the only coaches in league history to take
home the Red Auerbach trophy
three times in their career.
“They’re on the hood of my
car,” Popovich cracked. “One,
two, three, right on the car, the
way players do license plates. ...
I’ve got three of those right on
the hood.”
He’s never liked the attention,
never bought into the proclamations of his genius. When the accolades come his way, Popovich
is quick to deflect them, giving
the credit to his players, his assistant coaches, owner Peter

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich sits with the Red Auerbach trophy during a news conference after he was named
the NBA coach of the year on Tuesday for the third time.
Holt and general manager R.C.
Buford. The humility in his
voice on Tuesday was genuine,
the challenge of putting the pieces back together after last season’s finish as daunting as ever.
They showed up to training
camp still stinging from that defeat, and Popovich had to get to
know a new-look coaching staff
after losing longtime assistants
Brett Brown and Mike Budenholzer to head coaching jobs in
Philadelphia and Atlanta.
Then he led the Spurs to a
league-best 62-20 record, which
gives them home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
And he did it while deftly navi-

gating a season filled with nagging injuries to several key players. Tim Duncan was the only
starter to play in at least 70
games. No Spur averaged 30
minutes per game and Tony
Parker led the team with a modest 16.7 points per game.
Despite all of that, the Spurs
won at least 50 games for the
15th straight season and topped
60 for the fourth time in that
span.
“Day after day, year after year,
the energy that Pop provides
our organization is truly
unique,” Buford said.
The Spurs lead the Dallas Mavericks 1-0 in their best-of-seven

series, with Game 2 on Wednesday night in San Antonio.
“He’s a gentleman,” Spurs
swingman Marco Belinelli said.
“Everybody knows that he’s the
best coach in the league. So to
say that is not really important.
But maybe some people, they
don’t know he’s really a great
guy, a great gentleman. He really
helps guys, helps each other. He
wants to help everybody. Great
person.”
When Miami topped San Antonio in that classic seven-game
series, Popovich’s reaction resonated deeply within some members of the Heat organization.
Instead of showing his disap-

pointment at the final buzzer,
Popovich lingered on the court
for a few minutes, sharing heartfelt embraces and words with
Erik Spoelstra, Dwyane Wade
and LeBron James, among others — even smiling as he chatted with them and congratulated
them on winning the title. And
when told of Popovich’s award
Tuesday, James offered high
praise to the Spurs’ coach.
“Not surprised,” James said.
“It’s well-awarded. I have the utmost
respect
for
Gregg
Popovich, man. Not only what
he’s been able to do for that
team, but him just being able to
always keep those guys motivated and always keep their best
interests. ... From the outside
looking in, it seems that he has
their best interests and all he
cares about is the team’s success
and nothing else matters. That’s
big-time.”
Behind all his press conference bluster and the orneriness
he directs toward the officials,
there is a softer side that endears Popovich to those around
him. That much was revealed
during Game 1 against the Mavericks when he was interviewed by Craig Sager Jr., who
was filling in for his father, a
longtime sideline reporter who
is being treated for leukemia.
Popovich’s curt demeanor and
one-word answers to the elder
Sager’s questions have become
appointment viewing, but this
time the coach stopped in the
middle of tense game, stared
right into the camera and delivered a heart-felt message.
“We miss you. You’ve been an
important part of all of us for a
long time, doing a great job,” he
said. “We want your fanny back
on the court, and I promise I’ll
be nice.”
Popovich garnered 59 firstplace votes and 380 total points
in voting conducted by a panel
of media members. Phoenix’s
Jeff Hornacek (37 first-place
votes) finished second and Chicago’s Tom Thibodeau (12) finished third in the voting, with
Charlotte’s Steve Clifford and
Toronto’s Dwane Casey rounding out the top five in a season
so strong that Spoelstra did not
make the top 10.

NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: MAVERICKS VS. SPURS

Mavs look to Dirk vs. Spurs
By SCHUYLER DIXON
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dirk Nowitzki missed from
several of his usual spots as Dallas blew a lead in the fourth
quarter of its playoff-opening loss
to San Antonio.
The Mavericks star even
flubbed a glorified layup, the
most surprising of all the misses
when Dallas went without a meaningful basket for the final 8
minutes of the 90-85 loss to the
Spurs.
Now Nowitzki has to bounce
back from one of the worst playoff games of his 16-year career
when the Mavericks play at San
Antonio in Game 2 on Wednesday night.
It’s hard to imagine Dallas
knocking off the team with the
NBA’s best record as long as Nowitzki has 11 points on 4-of-14
shooting. It was his lowest point
total in the playoffs in seven
years.
The Mavericks aren’t imagining it.
“Dirk is our least concern,”
said backup guard Devin Harris,
who led Dallas with 19 points in
the opener. “He is going to get
his shots and we know he’s going
to make them.”
The Spurs tend to make it
harder on the pure-shooting 7footer, crowding him at the 3-

point line and bumping him
when he gets closer to the basket.
When Nowitzki had plans to
take over in the fourth quarter
with post-up moves, the Spurs
blindsided him with a second defender and forced a turnover.
That sequence came during a
14-0 San Antonio run that wiped
out an 81-71 Dallas lead.
“We basically stayed with him
a lot of times and we didn’t
help,” said Spurs center Tiago
Splitter, who shares most of the
defensive load on Nowitzki with
Boris Diaw. “That makes the other guys have to work a little bit
more. So it wasn’t just me and
Boris.”
This is how it’s always been
the six times the Mavericks and
Spurs have met in the playoffs
since Nowitzki came to Dallas.
The Spurs find a way to take Nowitzki out of the game. The Mavericks look for a way to make
him a factor again, knowing it
won’t be easy.
“I don’t think they’re going to
leave me much on pick-and-roll
coverage all series,” Nowitzki
said. “I can’t just sit out there
and measure the wind and
shoot.”
The last time Nowitzki scored
11 points in a playoff game, he
came back with 50 against Phoenix in 2006, when the Mavericks

topped the Suns in the Western
Conference finals before Miami
beat them for the title.
That’s unlikely to happen
again because the 35-year-old Nowitzki no longer carries that
kind of offensive load. Instead,
he shares it with a variety of options led by guard Monta Ellis.
He rarely shoots 26 times a
game as he did back then — and
coming off a bad game isn’t going to tempt him.
“You don’t want to overthink
it,” said Nowitzki, who has had
several clunkers during Dallas’
current 10-game losing streak to
the Spurs. “You don’t want to go
completely crazy and just hoist
everything you see because some
of those shots are contested.
They’ve got to be within the flow
and within the rhythm of the
game.”
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle is
sure those shots will be.
“The thing about all-time
great players is that it’s not
about one day coming in and
saying, ’Hey, I’m going to go
harder today’ or ’I’m going to be
more aggressive today,”’ Carlisle
said. “He’s had the same approach every day for 16 years.”
And the Spurs have had the
same game plan.
The Mavericks are hoping it
does. Otherwise it figures to be a
short series.

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

Dallas’ Monta Ellis and the Mavericks are hoping to rebound after blowing a late
10-point lead in Game 1 against San Antonio in the first round of the Western
Conference playoffs.

WASHINGTON — With
college
commencement
ceremonies nearing, the
government is offering a
modest dose of good news
for graduating seniors: The
job market is brightening
for new grads — a bit.
But finding work — especially a dream job — remains tough for those just
graduating. Many are settling for jobs outside their
fields of study or for less
pay than they’d expected
or hoped for.
The Labor Department
on Tuesday said the unemployment rate for 2013 college graduates — defined
as those ages 20 to 29 who
earned a four-year or advanced degree — was 10.9
percent. That was down
from 13.3 percent in 2012
and was the lowest since
7.7 percent in 2007. The
drop reflects the steady recovery in overall U.S. economic growth and hiring.
But unemployment for
recent grads was still higher than the 9.6 percent rate
for all Americans ages 20
to 29 last October, when
the government collected
the numbers.
“I’m finding that all
these entry-level jobs are
requiring experience I
don’t have or degrees that
are just unattainable right
out of college,” says Howard Rudnick, 23, who graduated last year in political
science from Florida Atlantic
University
and
wound up earning $25,000

File photo by Jessica Hill | AP

Graduates pose for photographs during commencement at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., on
Monday, May 20, 2013. The job market for new college graduates is brightening but remains weaker.
a year working for an online shoe company.
“The worst part is that
I’m afraid at some point I
may have to go back to
school to better myself and
take on more debt just so I
can get a better-paying
job.”
Over
time,
though,
Americans who have college degrees are still far
more likely to find employment and to earn more
than those who don’t. And
while opportunities for
new college grads remain
too few, they’re increasing.
“It really is getting better,” says Jean ManningClark, director of the career center at the Colorado
School of Mines in Golden,
Colo. She says more automotive and steel companies are now looking at the
school’s graduates, joining
energy and technology
companies that have been
actively recruiting for several years.
Last year’s female grad-

uates fared better than
men: 9 percent were unemployed as of October last
year, compared with 13.7
percent of men. Analysts
note that the economy has
been generating jobs in
many low-wage fields —
such as retail and hotels —
that disproportionately employ women
“It seems like the jobs
that are growing fastest
are jobs that are low-wage
jobs, service jobs,” says
Anne Johnson, executive
director of Generation Progress, an arm of the liberal
Center for American Progress that studies youth issues.
Other fields that attract
women — including health
care — weren’t hit as hard
by the recession.
Philip Gardner, director
of Michigan State University’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute,
says women also “have
skill sets that employers
want... They have better

communications
skills.
They have better interpersonal skills. They are more
willing to work in teams.”
Alexa
Staudt’s
job
search lasted just three
weeks. Before graduating
from the University of Texas last spring, Staudt, 23,
had landed an administrative position at an online
security company in Austin.
“I had marketable skills
from my internships” in
event planning, marketing
and copy-editing and experience working as a receptionist for a real-estate
firm, Staudt says.
She’s happy with the job
and the chance to stay in
Austin.
Yet the McKinsey &
Company consultancy last
year found that 41 percent
of graduates from top universities and 48 percent of
those from other schools
could not land jobs in their
chosen field after graduation.

Even in good times,
many college graduates
need time to find a good
job. But researchers at the
Federal Reserve Bank of
New York concluded earlier this year that “it has become more common for
underemployed
college
graduates to find themselves in low-wage jobs or
to be working part time.”
The Labor Department
reports that 260,000 college
graduates were stuck last
year working at or below
the federal minimum wage
of $7.25 an hour. That’s
down from a peak of
327,000 in 2010. But it’s
more than double the
127,000 in 2007, the year the
recession began.
“Every way you cut it,
young college grads are
really having trouble —
much more trouble than
they used to have,” says
Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. “The labor market is not producing decent jobs.”
In a study last year,
economists at the University of British Columbia and
York University in Canada
found that college graduates were more likely to be
working in routine and
manual work than were
graduates in 2000; technology was eliminating some
mid-level jobs that graduates used to take. The result is that many have had
to compete for jobs that
don’t require much education.
Their sobering conclusion:
“Having a B.A. is less
about obtaining access to
high-paying
managerial
and technology jobs and
more about beating lesseducated workers for the
barista or clerical job.”

DETROIT — General Motors
Co. and a battalion of trial lawyers are preparing for an epic
court fight over whether GM is
liable for the sins of its corporate
past.
The company is asking a U.S.
bankruptcy court to shield it
from legal claims for actions that
took place before the company’s
2009 bankruptcy.
But lawyers who are suing GM
say it shouldn’t get the usual benefits of bankruptcy protection because it concealed a deadly ignition switch problem when the
court was making bankruptcy decisions.
They also say the company’s
motion is part of a broader strategy to force settlements in dozens
of lawsuits alleging the ignition
switches caused deaths and injuries.
Late Monday, GM filed a mo-

The Detroit automaker contends in its motion that under
the bankruptcy, which ended on July 10, 2009, assets and
liabilities of the old General Motors Inc. were split in two.
tion in New York asking the
court to bar claims that GM
small cars lost value because of
the ignition switch problem,
which has led to the recall of 2.6
million older small cars worldwide. The company has admitted
knowing about the problem for
more than a decade, yet it failed
to start recalling the cars until
February to replace the defective
switches.
The faulty switches, which GM
says have caused at least 13
deaths, can move unexpectedly
from the “run” position to “accessory” or “off,” shutting down
the engine and knocking out
power-assisted
steering
and

brakes. If that happens, steering
can become difficult and surprised drivers can lose control of
their cars and crash. If the engine is off, the air bags won’t inflate.
GM’s behavior has brought allegations of a cover-up from
members of Congress, who earlier this month held hearings on
the recall. The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration,
the government’s road safety
watchdog, and the Justice Department also are investigating
GM’s delayed recall.
The Detroit automaker contends in its motion that under
the bankruptcy, which ended on

July 10, 2009, assets and liabilities
of the old General Motors Inc.
were split in two, with good assets sold under court order to
“New GM” and bad ones and
most liabilities going to the “Old
GM,” which was left behind. The
recalled cars were made and sold
by the old company.
The new GM, the motion asserts, took on only three categories of liabilities after bankruptcy: Those for post-bankruptcy
crashes involving cars made by
“Old GM” that caused injuries,
deaths or property damage; and
warranty and lemon law claims.
“Plaintiffs assert claims for liabilities that, under the sale order

and injunction, were retained by
Old GM,” the motion states. It
asks the court to dismiss about
50 class action lawsuits seeking
damage for lost car values, and
for an order stopping similar new
claims.
But Robert Hilliard, a lawyer
who has several wrongful death
lawsuits pending against GM,
says the motion is an implied
threat to those who have filed
such lawsuits against GM: Either
settle or risk getting nothing because the company will argue
that claims should go against the
Old GM, which has few assets.
GM has hired Kenneth Feinberg — who handled the fund for
the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001
terrorist attacks, the Boston Marathon bombing and the BP oil
spill in the Gulf of Mexico — to
explore ways to compensate victims. No decision has been made
yet on just what GM will do.
“It’s completely strategic,” said
Hilliard, of Corpus Christi, Texas.